


have courage and be kind

by HannahPelham



Category: Call the Midwife, Cinderella (2015)
Genre: Cinderella AU, F/M, also the dress colour is nonnatus uniform coloured, cinderella based nonsense, fairytale AU, i've watched cinderella three times in two days help me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24324187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HannahPelham/pseuds/HannahPelham
Summary: A Trixie/Christopher Cinderella AU: One fateful day, Trixie Franklin meets a man who calls himself Mr Kit, though he is more than he seems, not that Trixie, treated as a servant by her stepmother, thinks she will ever find out.
Relationships: Christopher Dockerill/Trixie Franklin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	have courage and be kind

**Author's Note:**

> Based primarily on the 2015 Cinderella film starring Lily James and Richard Madden. The stepmother and stepsisters have alcohol related names, as a reference to Trixie's alcoholism in the show. In this, however, her demons have a physical form.

Trixie Franklin had not had an easy life. Her mother had died when she was 10, her parting words telling her to  _ have courage and be kind.  _ Her father had remarried a few years later, to the widow Lady Martina de Bailey. She and her daughters, Frannie and Sherry, had moved in and taken control of the house. Trixie kept to her room, as her new step sisters were not fond of her, and her father kept to his study, so he didn’t disturb his wife’s parties. When, one day, Trixie’s father had gone away for a month to find new people to trade with, and never made it home, Trixie’s life changed forever. 

Lady Martina de Bailey had never been fond of her step-daughter. Trixie was far prettier, kinder, and more talented than either of her daughters had ever been, and she was jealous. She was jealous that Trixie was everything she and her daughters were not and never could be. As a result, she wanted Trixie to suffer. She never wanted her to feel happiness again after the death of her father. Whilst Trixie tried to grieve, Martina worried about how she would pay all of her gambling debts. 

When she realised she could no longer afford to have a household staff, Martina decided to put Trixie to use. 

Trixie arrived home from a walk one day to find her step-sisters moving into her old bedroom.

“It’s much bigger than theirs, Beatrix, you can have the attic” Martina had crowed from the door when she saw Trixie’s confused and upset expression. Trixie trudged her way up to the attic room, finding an old, broken bed and chair in there. 

“Well, at least I won't be disturbed here” she said to the mice. Her mother had taught her that the animals all understood her, and as a result Trixie understood them. Jenny, Cynthia, and Barbara were the only friends Trixie had. 

Before she could even realise, Trixie was working as a servant in her own home. Martina would have Trixie lay all the fires, make all the food, do all the cleaning and washing and mending, and all she would get were scraps off the table. In a few short weeks, Trixie had gone from an idyllic life with her father to being a slave to her wicked stepmother. As she sat in the attic, picking at what remained of her stepmother’s dinner, she wished a handsome man would come and sweep her off her feet and take her away from the horridness of the house. 

Months later, after months and months of hardly any food and hardly any rest, an exhausted and dangerously thin Trixie found herself picking apples in the orchard. The sun shone down and Trixie found herself feeling fainter and fainter. She felt herself start to sway and fall, but she found she didn’t hit the ground. As she came around, she opened her eyes to an unfamiliar figure sitting in front of her, looking very worried indeed. 

“Miss, are you alright?” He asked, handing her a leather pouch of water. She smiled weakly and sipped some of it.

“I am now, thank you, Mr?” She replied, handing it back to him. It was very finely made indeed, and she wondered how he came to have it. 

“Kit. I’m Kit, I’m an apprentice at the Palace” He said, placing the pouch back where it belonged. He looked at the young woman, taking in her appearance. She was incredibly beautiful, a delicate face, high cheekbones, bright blonde hair, but she was thin, far too thin to be healthy. Her face was dirty, covered in cinders and ash. She looked, to him, as if she did not live an easy life. He didn’t know what it was about her, but he felt an urge to protect her, look after her. 

“Who are you, Miss?” he asked. She raised her eyebrows. He could tell she wasn’t used to much attention, or if she was it was rarely positive. 

“I’m nobody, Mr Kit, really nobody” she replied. She had no idea who she was but she knew she had to see him again. Before the conversation could continue any further, or really get going, Trixie was brought back to reality with a shout.

“Mama requires you!” Frannie bellowed. Trixie sighed and stood up slowly, grabbing her basket of apples. She smiled sweetly at her new friend Mr Kit and made her way back to the house, and back to her toil. 

For the days that followed, all Trixie could think about was Mr Kit. She was sad that she’d probably never see him again, she’d never have reason to go to the Palace, and she was trying to work out why he was so far out at the orchard anyway. 

When, a few days later, a Ball was announced at the Palace, Trixie’s spirits were buoyed. A Ball to which every maiden, noble or commoner, was invited to attend. She couldn’t believe that she might finally get to go to her first ball, and at the palace too. 

She rushed back from the square to inform her stepmother of the proclamation. 

“A ball?” Martina exclaimed, “well you must head back into town immediately and get the seamstress to work on three new ball gowns!”

“Three?” Trixie asked quietly.

“Yes, girl, three”

“Oh stepmother you’re so kind” Trixie said, smiling. Frannie and Sherry began to laugh. 

“Oh look, little Cinders thinks the third dress is for her!” Frannie laughed as Trixie’s face fell. 

As she walked back towards the square, to give the de Baileys order to the seamstress, she decided she might as well make herself a dress if they wouldn’t let her have one. When she returned, she found an old dress of her mother’s in a trunk in her attic. It was about twenty years out of fashion but Trixie didn’t care. If she was going to go to the palace, she was glad she was going to be taking a piece of her mother with her.

The day of the ball arrived, and Trixie was buzzing with excitement. She’d finished all her chores especially early so her stepmother wouldn’t find any reason for her not to go. She got dressed, did her hair as best she could, and found her least dirty shoes. 

She walked down the stairs to find Frannie and Sherry fighting over some beads as they made their way to the waiting coach.

“Wait for me!” Trixie called. Martina, Sherry, and Frannie turned around and laughed. 

“Where do you think you’re going, girl?” Martina asked, sneering.

“To the ball, the proclamation said any maiden, noble or commoner was invited” Trixie said sadly. She realised she wasn’t going to be allowed to go. For a moment, Frannie and Sherry feigned sadness, putting their arms around her shoulders, before they began to rip at Trixie’s dress. By the time they were finished, the beautiful pink dress that had once been her mothers, was reduced to rags. Trixie ran past them out into the garden, where she collapsed in a heap, sobbing as hard as she could.

“Goodbye Cinders!” Frannie cackled as she climbed into the carriage, and they drove away. 

Trixie sobbed and sobbed in the darkness, head buried in her arms, until a bright white light made her look up. As she did, she saw a pale blonde woman in the biggest white dress she’d ever seen. Trixie sat up and watched as the woman looked around for a moment, before her eyes fell on Trixie.

“Well come on Trixie, crying never solved anything” she said, looking around again, “do you have anything coach-like?”

“Coach-like? Who are you?” Trixie asked as she helped the woman look around the garden for something just right. 

The woman looked at Trixie with a sigh.

  
  


“Come on, Beatrix, remember what your mother told you” she said as her eyes fell on a huge pumpkin in the middle of the vegetable patch.

“You can’t be my fairy godmother” Trixie said after a moment, walking over to the vegetable bed, finding the woman inspecting the Pumpkin very closely.

“Whyever not?”

“Because they don’t exist?” Trixie more asked than said. The woman gave her a look, and Trixie instantly knew the woman was indeed her Fairy Godmother. 

“Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo!” Fairy Godmother said as she flicked her wand at the Pumpkin. Before Trixie’s eyes, it became a beautiful glass coach. Next on the Fairy Godmother’s list were horses, and she soon spotted the mice, sat with their friend Tom. Soon, Jenny, Cynthia, Barbara, and Tom were four beautiful white horses. A pair of lizards became footmen, and a goose was transformed into the driver. 

Fairy Godmother rushed them all to the coach, eager to get Trixie to the ball as quickly as she could. 

“Fairy Godmother, my dress!” Trixie said as she walked over to her. 

“Oh, yes, that’ll never do” Fairy Godmother agreed, walking in a circle around the girl. 

“Can you fix it? It was my mother’s and I want to take a piece of her to the Ball with me” Trixie asked. Fairy Godmother smiled and nodded, and with a flick of her wand, the dress was transformed from pink rags into a blue ball gown, with a deep red collar and sash. Trixie’s tattered slippers were transformed into glass (“don’t worry, you’ll find them quite comfortable”) and she was ushered into the coach. Fairy Godmother flicked her wand one more time, so that the de Baileys wouldn’t recognise Trixie at the Palace. Just as the coach was about to pull away, Fairy Godmother remembered the most important thing.

“Trixie! This won’t last forever - the magic will wear off at the last chime of the last bell of the last stroke of midnight - you must be home before then!”

“Midnight?” Trixie said, “that’s more than enough time!” 

Fairy Godmother smiled as the coach pulled away, and Trixie raced to the ball. She ran up the palace steps, and made her way into the Palace as quickly as she could so she didn’t miss anything. The ball was just beginning as she walked down the stairs into the ballroom. As she looked across the ballroom, she saw Mr Kit burst in through doors at the other end. He looked very fine indeed. That’s when Trixie realised. Her Mr Kit wasn’t an apprentice. He was the Prince. As she walked into the middle of the room, Kit met her halfway. 

“Mr Kit” she whispered, smiling.

“Miss, would you do me the honour of the, uh, the first…”

“Dance?” Trixie replied, trying to finish the sentence for him.

“Just so” he replied, taking her in his arms. The orchestra began to play, and they danced the first together.

“They’re all looking at you, Your Highness” Trixie whispered, halfway through their waltz.

“Believe me, they’re all looking at you” The Prince replied, smiling widely at her as he spun her around the floor. Their dance ended, and other couples began to make their way onto the floor, including Trixie’s step-sisters, who had been thrust towards any man without a woman already on his arm by Lady Martina. 

“Come with me” The Prince whispered as he led Trixie through the doors at the end of the ballroom and into a small picture hall.

“You’re the Prince?” Trixie almost gasped once they were alone.

“I thought if you knew you might treat me differently” He replied, smiling weakly. He looked out the window, and came up with a plan. He held out his hand, and she took it as he led her out of the french doors and into the stunning Palace gardens. They followed path after path until they reached a door in a stone wall.

“I’ve never shown this to anybody. My mother would bring me here when I was a boy” The Prince (Kit, Trixie mentally corrected) said. He opened the door to reveal a secret garden, planted with roses and peonies and all the flowers Trixie loved. In the centre stood a tree, centuries old, with a swing hanging from it’s most sturdy branch. Kit gestured to it. 

“I shouldn’t” Trixie said. 

“You should” Kit replied. 

“I shouldn’t”

“You should”

“I shouldn’t”

“You should”

“I will” Trixie finally agreed, as she swept her skirts underneath her and sat down. She gave Kit a smile, and he started to push her gently. As she swung, one of her slippers fell off. Kit stopped pushing her and walked around, picking up the shoe. He studied it for a moment, surprised to see it was made of glass. He raised his eyebrows, and she nodded, pulling her skirt back slightly. He slipped the shoe back onto her foot and looked up. He wanted to propose, there and then. He was about to, too, but the clock struck and Trixie stood up as quickly as she could. She began to run across the garden.

“I have to go, it’s hard to explain, pumpkins and lizards and things, but I really have had the most wonderful evening - goodbye!” she called as she ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She ran through the ballroom, faintly aware of Kit running after her, calling her name. She ran up the stairs of the ballroom and out of the Palace. She almost flew down the steps towards the coach, only stopped by one of her shoes coming off. Realising she didn’t have time to go back up and get it, she took the other one off and ran in her bare feet, jumping into the coach. The driver got going as fast as he could, and they had just made it out of the main part of the town when things started to change back. By the time they reached the edge of the garden of her home, Trixie was walking down the middle of the road in her rags again, carrying one glass slipper, as the animals followed her. 

She had just made it back into the kitchen when Lady Martina, Frannie, and Sherry returned. They talked of the mysterious Princess who had stolen the Prince’s heart, and Trixie bit back a smile as she listened. She made them their tea and retired to her attic, desperate to write down all that had happened so she didn’t forget it.

The next morning, a search was started from the Palace to find the owner of the glass slipper, so the Prince could, if she wished, marry her. 

The slipper was tried on the foot of every maiden who had been at the Ball, though of course the Fairy Godmother had enchanted it so it would only ever fit on Trixie’s foot, for just such occasions. 

The house where Trixie lived with the de Baileys was the last to be searched, and Lady Martina wanted to make sure Trixie got nowhere near the Prince. She snuck up and locked the attic door behind Trixie, who had no idea what was about to happen. 

The slipper was tried on the feet of Frannie and Sherry, neither of whom could even get their toes into it. The royal guards were just about to leave the house, when they heard Trixie’s singing from the attic. 

“Lady de Bailey, you are sure there are no other ladies here?” The captain asked. 

“Quite sure” Lady Martina replied. The captain saw right through her, took the keys from her hands, and made his way up to the attic. When he brought Trixie down from the attic, Lady Martina glared at her, and was even heard to mutter “wretch”. 

“It won’t fit her” Lady Martina called as she was taken into the parlour. 

“Let me see about that” came a voice from the guards, and Kit emerged from the ranks. Trixie smiled as he stepped forward, taking the slipper from the captain. He gestured for Trixie to sit down, and he knelt down before her. It felt like they were back in the secret garden. He slipped the shoe back onto her foot, and smiled the widest smile he could when it fit. 

“I am just an honest country girl, Your Highness, not a Princess” Trixie said quietly. 

“Not yet you’re not, Miss?” Prince Christopher replied.

“Beatrix Franklin, but everyone calls me Trixie”

He took her outside and helped her onto his horse. He sat behind her and tugged the reins. As they crossed the threshold away from Trixie’s house, he leant forward and kissed her gently. When they reached the Palace, he jumped from his horse and fell to one knee in front of her. 

“Trixie, will you marry me?” he asked, hoping he knew the answer.

“Yes, Mr Kit, I will” she replied, jumping down from the horse to kiss him. 

_ AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER. _


End file.
